734 - Associations Between Dietary Quality and Sleep Duration Measured by Accelerometry in Children: Insights from the MI-Energy Study
Saturday, April 26, 2025
2:30pm – 4:45pm HST
Publication Number: 734.3968
Eva C. Diaz, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, AR, United States; Timothy Edwards, Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center, Little Rock, AR, United States; Elisabet Børsheim, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Little Rock, AR, United States
Assistant Professor University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Background: Research suggests that sleep patterns can influence dietary choices, and diet can, in turn, affect sleep quality and duration. However, in children, only a limited number of studies have explored associations between specific dietary intake measurements and sleep duration assessed with accelerometry. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of markers of dietary quality measured using the 2015 Healthy Eating Index score (HEI), and sleep duration by accelerometry in children 8 to 10 years old. Design/Methods: These preliminary analyses include data from a subset of children (n=44) enrolled in an observational study at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center. Full enrollment has been completed (n=216), and further analyses are ongoing. Each child attended a single study visit. Dietary intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire, and both the total HEI score and the scores for each of its individual components were calculated. Sleep patterns were assessed using waist actigraphy, with children wearing accelerometers for at least 6 days, including one weekend day. Sleep was analyzed using the Cole-Kripke (CK) algorithm as data from our laboratory indicate that the CK algorithm is more accurate than the Sadeh algorithm in measuring sleep duration in children of school age. Partial Spearman correlation coefficients measured the association of sleep duration (minutes) with the HEI and its 13 individual components. Correlation coefficients were adjusted for race (White vs Other: Black, Asian, More than one race). Results: Children (9.5±0.9 years old) were predominantly White (68%) and had a mean BMI z-score of 0.69±1.03. Twenty children (45%) had either overweight or obesity. White children slept more compared to Other races (White: 502±70 min vs. Other: 460±62 min, p=0.05). The HEI scores for added sugars (r=0.57, p=0.0005) and whole grains (r=0.49, p= 0.0035) directly correlated with sleep duration.
Conclusion(s): There was a direct correlation between children's sleep duration and their adherence to recommendations for daily intake of added sugars and whole grains. Randomized controlled trials for establishing the direction of causality are needed.
